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Narrative Analysis of DAY FOR NIGHT By M. Gabriel DAY FOR NIGHT is a film about a movie making team shooting a film called MEET PAMELA. The story is about the film director called Ferrand, the artists and the production crew of “MEET PAMELA” as they embark on this journey to shoot this film and how they achieve their goal in spite of the many conflicts they experience during the shooting. This narrative analysis essay attempts to examine the development of the pivotal character, Ferrand, from the start to the end of DAY FOR NIGNT. DAY FOR NIGHT opens with a scene of a pleasing, busy Parisian square until a young man slaps another older man. The shock of this action compounded by a shout of ‘cut’ conveys all at once that we are being shown a cinema shooting, with the Director calling at the right moment to stop the camera. With this single scene, of hundreds of extra actors, props, sets, camera on crane and the single & powerful dialog “Cut”, Ferrand’s character is introduced. This scene shows the enormous burden of responsibility and the associated strength or power of a movie director. We are introduced to Ferrand’s personal background further when we hear the conversation between Alphonse, the young man and his girl friend & script apprentice, Liliane. They talk about Ferrand’s deafness due to serving in the artillery. On the first outset, this appears as indulgence on part of Truffaut to bring this characterization to Ferrand. As we start to know more about Ferrand, we see the relevance of this scene. Ferrand is shown as one of those humane movie directors who shoulders and shares the burdens of his actors and the crew when they experience their conflicts.
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